The mostly necessary ramblings of a Unitec design student

11/07/2010

I find myself inadvertently creating situations within my design that pose conflicting propositions. I began this semester with the Boom Box brief and was inspired by the geometry and folded lines of the Japanese origami featured within my box. I wanted to translate that use of flat planes and create something with more weight, more presence, but still maintaining the creases and facets that originally drew me in.

After this we were assigned the In Memory Of…. brief. It’s so different to be studying someone else, and to not necessarily mimic their style, but to try and get to know them from afar and to create something you honestly feel is a fitting tribute to their work.

I chose Milton Glaser, the American graphic designer responsible for the ‘I [Heart] NY’ logo, the Glaser Stencil font, the original DC Comics logo and many other significant contributions to 20th century graphic design. Before the assignment I didn’t know who he was, I just stumbled across his name as I was trying to find an artist who’s work I connected with. I think this was actually really beneficial to me, as I had never heard of him before, I had no bias against his work. No prior opinion to uphold or diminish, this helped me gather information surrounding many parts of his practise rather than just the parts I liked.

Interestingly he is a graphic designer, which means obviously that the majority of his work is presented in a 2D format. I had now given myself the challenge of tributing a designer who works primarily with the 2D, in my chosen medium – 3D/Object. This was a complete accident but I find it quite fascinating that I walked into the same challenge twice, however by chance it may have been.

I’ve also noticed throughout the year, but more notably in the last semester I have interwoven CAD technology into my design practice. I find it a useful tool for not only visualising my designs (often I sketch these out first on scraps of paper strewn about the place) but it also helps me to reduce wasted resources as much as possible as I am able to identify flaws in my designs prior to their construction and remedy this before I would ordinarily discover them.

Overall I would like to continue the challenge of translating 2D into 3D and vice versa, but I hope to have the opportunity to do it in a more subtle manner in future, perhaps it will become a characteristic of my work, rather than a theme.

10/27/2010

Auckland Art Gallery has long had a reputation for supplying the public with culturally relevant exhibitions that reflect the nation’s interests and history. True to form, they present Local Revolutionaries: Art & Change 1965 – 1986, curated by Mary Kisler and Ron Brownson. The eclectic exhibition is a collection of sculpture, paintings and works on paper that “convey a period in which new approaches to materials and form reflected a commitment to personal freedoms of expression.”

While the works clearly are celebrating a bold use of colour, media, patterns and texture; I found them quite often echoing the political climate of the times with much of the population engaged in anti-war protests, arguing to rid nuclear powers from the pacific, and many speaking out for women’s rights and the right of the NZ Māori voice to be heard. The exhibition featured over 20 artists including Gretchen Albrecht, Terry Stringer, Pat Hanly and Richard Killeen.

Anyone who’s ever been to the Auckland Art Gallery knows that there are often a few exhibitions running at once, as I approached Local Revolutionaries I was inevitably led through a Goldie show exhibiting his famous portraits. I couldn’t help feeling this was an appropriate prelude to the work I was about to see, imbuing a sense of national pride within me as I passed the famous pieces. Approaching the exhibition I was a little confused at first, it was divided into two square rooms separated by a small corridor that held the wall text. The wall text was difficult to find the wall it was displayed on was perpendicular to the entrance, and divided my path in two. I chose to walk to the left, being drawn into the room displaying Warren Viscoe’s D.S.I.R. Man (1985). I think this was rather intuitive but it meant I didn’t see the wall text upon entering the exhibition, and it took me a moment or two looking to find it, something I think almost detriments the experience. I like a foreword to the work I am about to experience, and I enjoy being led around instinctively, each work leading subtlety on to the next.

Each of the rooms displayed works along the walls at a relative eye level, mixing large canvases, smaller prints and photographs. Both rooms featured a large sculpture placed centrally allowing visitors to walk around the work and engage with the pieces. While I feel the layout enabled viewers to interact with the sculptural work, I also think it was very formal. It was very much an institutional exhibition, showcasing works that are considered to be important without allowing them to interrelate – perhaps this is a good thing? The curators obviously considered it a positive, and to highlight each work individually giving them their own space makes sense, but I would like to see more exhibits like this being aesthetically interwoven rather than divided, communicating an overall theme more strongly through allowing the works of a certain period to bleed into one another as they would have at their time of creation.

One piece in particular that caught my eye was Robin White’s Mere and Siulolovao, Otago Peninsula (1978). The work is a screen print depicting a Polynesian woman holding a baby (presumably hers) on her hip. The figures are flanked on either side by washing and there is a genuine sense of the candid. There’s no mystery, it’s almost photographic in the way White has captured a fleeting moment, and simultaneously, perhaps inadvertently, transporting a classic renaissance emblem of the Madonna and child into the present. The print is crisp and the colours are bold and uninterrupted, but there are moments of surprising detail; the pattern on the woman’s (Mere’s) skirt, the intricate line of the hair, the wedding ring included on her hand. All things that enable her to exist outside of the image, they give her context and depth, almost proving her reality. Who is this woman to the artist? Are they friends? What is she saying? Questions I contemplated as I considered the image before me, the scene was casual but specific, almost as though I had strolled past as she was hanging out the washing and she had approached the gate to talk to me - I wondered if this is what had happened to the artist.

Unfortunately not all the pieces demanded as much attention, some of the work I had seen many times and almost felt like grout between the tiles, while others were truly thought-provoking and legitimately backed up the theme of the exhibition. Overall I would have liked to see a more revolutionary approach to the exhibition, while the show was good, it wasn’t great, and I can’t help being relieved I went on a free Monday.

10/13/2010

Thomas Edison invents the phonograph, the first method of recording and playing back sound.

Edison got the idea when trying to improve Alexander Graham Bell's telephone by attempting to incorporate a method of recording messages. Initially the machine worked by using the sound vibrations from vocal input to create reciprocal vibrations in a needle which in turn punched holes into a thick paper tape. Edison was then able to pull the tape under another needle connected to a second diaphragm which would reproduce the original sound. Although the sound quality was extremely poor, the idea fundamentally worked. In order to improve the reproduction, Edison refined the design by replacing the tape with tinfoil wrapped around a cylinder which meant it could be turned beneath the needles with a hand crank. He tested the new machine by reciting the poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and found it worked immediately.

1886

Alexander Graham Bell invented an early version of the tape recorder.

This version was non-magnetic, and used no electricity but instead used a paraffin/beeswax coated strip of paper that was scraped with a sharp recording stylus attached to a diapraghm that vibrated when someone spoke into the machine’s mouthpiece. The playback stylus was dull and loosely connected to another diapraghm that reproduced the original sound into an eartube. The machine was patented in 1886 but never produced commercially.

1887

Emile Berliner invents the gramophone, a redevelopment of Edison's phonograph which played discs (records) not cyllinders.

Emile Berliner, a German born American inventor patented the first method of recording and reproducing sound that could be feasibly mass produced. The cylinder, while revolutionary, could at it’s most refined point only be directly recorded on, a characteristic making it virtually impossible to factory produce. Berliner’s method featured discs which were created by recording a sound and utilising the vibrations from that sound to etch a wax plate from which a mold was created enabling many records to be produced from a single recording.

1906

Victor Talking Machine Company introduce the first variable speed record player.

At the time records were made in different sizes and required different speeds to be played, with the incorporation of a variable speed function Victor successfully created and marketed the first record player that would accommodate everyone’s record collections making it a very sought after product. The casings weren’t solid wood as many people assume, because it was prone to warp with time, so a particle board with a high quality veneer was used. The most popular finish was by far mahogany (about 80%), they also did oak and walnut finishes on a regular basis. A few models were released with a painted finish and custom orders provided a selection of teak, rosewood, ebony and mother of pearl which have since become very collectable.

1908

Colombia releases the first double sided record.

Colombia records was originally a distributor for Edison’s phonographs and cylinders but in 1894 when the North American Phonograph company was dissolved they were restricted to products of their own manufacture. Soon after this they began selling disc records but were still in competition with both Edison’s Phonograph company, and the Victor Talking Machine Company. However in 1908 they began mass production of the first double sided record which had the recording grooves molded into both sides not just one. In the same year they ceased production of cylinders.

1908

Electric assembly lines revolutionize factory production and Colombia release their new rival for Victor.

With the introduction of Henry Ford’s electric assembly line, companies were producing greater quantities of stock faster for less money. Colombia released the Grafonola to compete with the Victor Talking Machine Company’s Victrola which was dominating the (disc) record player market at the time. The Grafonla was an internal horn record player and they were often ‘disguised’ as pieces of furniture i.e. side tables or cabinets.

Although production of cylinder phonographs was ceased in later years, the production technology meant they could produce a greater variety of models than Edison’s company were ever able to put out, which further increased their market presence.

1912

Disc recordings become more popular than cylinder recordings.

Although the potential for a good quality sound reproduction was no higher with a disc record they became more popular than cylinders and eventually made them obsolete.

Huge advertising efforts on the part of The Victor Talking Machine Co. and Colombia Records, and some smart marketing moves also came into play; for example Enrico Caruso (who was very popular at the time) was approached to record exclusively for Victor which created a sense of superiority in the brand. Paired with the cheaper production cost (thus cheaper purchase price), and the bonus of double sided disc recordings, it was inevitable that the cylinder’s popularity would fall into decline.

1924

Acoustic discs are replaced by electric recordings.

Electrical recording systems were introduced that revolutionized recording sound. Prior to this sounds were recorded by the person/artist directing their sound into a mouth-piece connected to a diaphragm, whereas now the artist would sing/speak into a microphone which then sent the sound through and amplifier and the amplified noise would then cause the diaphragm to vibrate. This allows for a greater range of frequency to be recorded, for example double bass and high end treble, which before require music to be reworked in order to fit within the recordable parameters.

1931

Merle Duston developed and patented the first photoelectric tape recorder.

The recorder used a chemically treated paper tape to record and playback sounds. The tape was passed between a pair of electrodes which imprinted the sound signals as black stripes onto the tape’s surface. The machine also had photoelectric sensors so that the tape could be immediately replayed. This treated paper tape was far cheaper to produce than records and could record an hour of sound, making it idea for business applications and recording court proceedings.

1935

AEG releases the Magnetophon, a reel to reel magnetic tape recorder.

This machine used open reels and recorded sound on Iron Oxide coated tape (developed by Fritz Pfleumer). The Magnetophon was complicated and relatively difficult to use, as such it was not domestically successful. It was however used predominately in professional settings such as at radio stations and recording studios, and prolifically during the World War II to record important transmissions. Interestingly the name ‘Magnetophon’ became the name for reel to reel tape players/recorder internationally regardless of brand.

1952

The endless loop tape cartridge was designed by Bernard Cousino in 1952

It used a single reel of magnetic tape and played in a continuous loop. This technology was later developed, notably by George Eash who is credited with the Fidelipac. A similarmedium used many broadcasters to store advertisements, jingles and short radio segments on (up until 1990!). Another significant development was the 4-track cartridge developed by Earl Muntz in 1962 which was adapted to be played in cars, marketed as the CARtridge.

1962

Phillips invents the first compact audio cassette tape.

The technology was released in Europe in 1963 and United States in 1964 (under the name Norelco). Despite there being other magnetic tape recording mediums available, the compact cassette was the smallest, and had the added benefit of being rewindable. Initially the audio quality was not as good as that of an 8-track system and was used primarily for recording speech rather than music, but later developments meant the audio fidelity was improved and brought to par with competing media.

1963

The EL-3300 was introduced to the world.

In 1964 Phillips also released their first ‘portable’ tape recorder, the EL-3301 Compact Cassette Recorder Player. Its portability was due to its size and the fact it was battery operated, it came with a microphone that connected and the user was able to record their own speech, along with a leather carry case with a strap that enabled the user to transport it conveniently.

Seven years before Sony released the Walkman, Andreas Pavel tested his invention in the woods of Switzerland. He says he felt like he was floating and realised he could “multiply the aesthetic potential of any situation” with his device. Despite approaching numerous companies to license the technology he was rejected and laughed at internationally. When Sony released their version Pavel approached them hoping to come to an agreement whereby he was to receive royalties, and after a lengthy legal battle, Sony and Pavel came to a confidential agreement in 2004 and settled for a sum “in the low eight figures”.

1979

Sony released their iconic Walkman person cassette player.

Despite not being the first to have the idea they were the first to mass market and produce the personal stereo and cassette player, and due to the corporation size they were hugely prolific in doing this. Popularity of the Walkman was so widespread that it has changed people’s music listening habits forever. The Walkman was the beginning of headphones in public and is the father of all portable music devices such as the iPod and Zune. The brand was so successful Sony continued to use the name Walkmanto market their portable CD players during the nineties, as well as their MP3 players and music capable cell-phones today.

Originally marketed as the Soundabout, the Stowaway and the Freestyle in the US, UK and Sweden, but the name “Walkman” was soon added to the design. The first model, the TPS-L2 featured two headphone jacks, so two people could listen at once, and a ‘hotline’ button which when pushed would activate a small microphone. The sound of the cassette would be partially muted and the user could speak over the music and record onto the tape. These two features were phased out in the following model, but later models saw the resurgence of recording capabilities.

1982

The Compact Disc (CD) was released – and thus began the start of ‘The Digital Age’.

Developed from LaserDisc technology (a large scale home video format similar to an audio CD) the compact disc was originally devised for audio storage, planned to be the next LP, it can hold up to 80 minutes of uncompressed audio. The first CD released was Billy Joels 52nd Street in Japan alongside Sony’s new CDP-101 CD Player, the Compact Disc technology was released in the US early the following year.

1998

The first portable personal MP3 music player is released. OMFG.

MP3 technology has undoubtedly had the most significant effect on the world of any of the new audio formats or recording mediums, the ability to hold huge volumes of audio in a small device had rocked the music production world. People no longer need tangible space to store their music, only intangible flash memory on a small handheld device. The recording industry was turned on its end as they struggled to find ways of keeping people honest about their music sharing.

The first MP3 player was the MPMan F10 from Eiger Labs, with a storage capacity of 32MB it retailed at $250.00 (USD). Next was Diamond Rio's PMP300, often credited with the first MP3 player as they engaged in a high profile lawsuit with the RIAA who sued them on the grounds that MP3 players encouraged people to copy music unlawfully.

1999

The end of the MB datacap

Compaq’s Laptop Division came up with the idea of putting a hard drive in an MP3 player rather than flash memory which greatly increased its data capacity, and the Hango/Remote Solutions Portable Jukebox PJB-100 was born. This player has a (then unheard of) 6GB of storage space, the original iPod as it were.

2001

Apple monopolized the portable audio player industry with the release of…

The iPod.

Despite being priced at a heavy $400.00 (USD), possessing a strange scroll wheel design and initally no Windows compatibility, iPod has outsold any other MP3 player worldwide. Their first release was the First Generation iPod Classic which came with either a 5GB or 10GB storage capacity.

Apple have released new versions every year since, including the iPod shuffle (1st-4th gen), the iPod Mini (1st-2nd gen), the iPod Nano (1st-6th gen), the iPod Classic (1st-6th gen), the iPod Touch which has an inbuilt touch screen (1st-4th gen). iPods have become part of modern culture, and it’s rare to go a day without seeing someone pulling one of the sleek devices from their jeans pocket.

09/21/2010

Identify a designer / maker
/ architect / artist from the avante-garde modernist period (1905-1930) and
examine a specfic piece of work that encapsuated or expresses the ambitions (or
programme) of modernity.

Marcel Breuer was
an influential furniture designer, architect and interior designer during the
mid 20th century. He was a prominent master of modernism, studying and teaching at the Bauhaus school of design in the 1920s. He pioneered the use of tubular steel in furniture, and in doing so created an
aesthetic pillar on which many Modernist designs were later built.

The piece of Breuer’s work I have chosen is the B3
armchair (1925), also more commonly known as the Wassily after his
colleague at the Bauhaus, Wassily Kandinsky. When Kandinsky admired the
finished design Breuer created a second chair for his private use, later the
chair was sold under the name Wassily when an Italian manufacturer
learned of the story.

Prior to the Wassily, tube steel was only
used in industrial settings and had not been previously employed for furniture.
It’s said that the handlebars of Breuer’s Adler bicycle were the inspiration
for the material choice. Coupled with his desire to design a chair to be built
in a factory (like the Model T Ford) and his ambition to produce the worlds
first cantilevered chair – the Wassily is the result of his experiments
towards doing this. Despite not being successful in designing the first
cantilevered chair (Dutch architect Mart Stam beat him to it in 1926) he did
create one of the most iconic and frequently copied pieces of furniture ever to
be produced by the Bauhaus.

The Modernists wanted to make all art available to
the working class, to mass produce made the production
costs lower and thus well design objects were made more accessible to the wider populace. Breuer’s endeavours
to make the Wassily chair able to be manufactured en masse in a factory
fulfilled this want and set the standard for production line design in the mid
20th century.
Initially Breuer designed the chair from components that he bent and then
welded on the spot, but later abandoned the welding for bolts, another
development that enabled ease and speed of construction.

This further encapsulated
and encouraged a truth to materials philosophy that was developing. Modernism
wanted honesty surrounding construction and composition, and the Bauhaus believed in a ‘form follows
function’ approach. Ornament was disposed of in favour of sleek, bold
and abstract forms, with the premise that ornament and decoration were only
devices to mask imperfections in construction. Additionally the belief was held
that such redundant expenditure of time and diligence were enabling a dishonesty
to the consumer. Of his choice of tubular steel, Breuer
explained its practical qualities: it was light, cheap, easily disassembled,
hygienic and available in large quantities.

These functional merits aside, the tubular
steel lent itself to abstraction so effectively it “became the symbol for
radical modernity and new living”. The runner design of the chair legs, teamed
with the horizontal framing of the seat created a sense of line that implied
transparent cubic space, an effect intensified by the thin strips of fabric
employed as the seat base and back. In a time where Modernity was still a developing age, the Wassily set the standard for others to follow. In terms of material choice, aesthetic, construction, design principle and practicality, this chair defined Modern design, perhaps before Modern design could define itself.

09/16/2010

This is the Louvre Pyramid, the renovated entrance for
the Louvre Museum in Paris. The glass and steel pyramid is surrounded by three
smaller pyramids, in the Cour Napoleon (main courtyard) of the Louvre Palace.
The large pyramid reaches 20.6 metres at its highest point and is echoed
underneath by a reverse pyramid which serves as a skylight for the visitors
centre below.

Slide2

The Louvre Pyramid is situated in the main courtyard
of the Louvre Palace, flanked on either side by the wings Richelieu, and Denon.
The Glass for its construction was made in England and imported to France, and
the support system was so innovative for it’s time that the parts had to be
specially engineered in America.

Slide3

The design
prompted controversy as many people considered the modern entrance design too
great of a contrast to the original structure. Originally built as a 12th
century fortress the building has been both scorned by those who believe it is
an affront to France’s cultural heritage, and praised by those who believe it
is a successful reincarnation of a building fast becoming history.

Slide4

The pyramid is constructed using a pioneering self-supporting
structure of steel rods and cables. The exterior shell of the pyramid is made
up of six hundred and three diamond shaped glass panes, and seventy triangular
panes which surround the base. Below ground the inverted pyramid underneath the
main one allows light into the large subterranean room.

Slide5

It was rumoured that the exact number of glass panes
were 666, a specification supposedly set out by the French President himself as
some satanic tribute, something brought to light in more recent times in Dan
Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, however it
has since been disproved that he made any such request, and the number of panes
altogether equals 673.

Slide6

The Louvre renovation was commissioned by the (then)
French President, Françios Mitterrand as one of his Grands Projets. A series of
architectural projects in Paris that were to be his legacy. He said that he had
long been obsessed with the modernization of the Louvre as it being designed to
function as a palace, did not allow for ideal function as a museum.

Slide7

The architects for these projects were usually
determined through a competition process but when the president of The Louvre’s
government agency suggested to Francios Mitterrand that I.M. Pei was
undoubtedly the right architect for the job, that process was abandoned and the
task awarded to Pei whose modernist structures were already internationally
famous.

Slide8

In 1983 when Pei presented the Pyramid design to the public, the majority of
French people seemed to be in deep opposition of the design, declaring it as “a
scar on the face of Paris”. It was believed that the ultra modern glass and
steel construction was too far removed from the stone façade of The Louvre
Palace and the royal essence of the original building lost.

Slide9

It was not until 1985 when a life-size model of the
proposed building was erected in the Cour Napoleon that many critics were
allayed. Still however many people felt the new addition would not compliment
the classic Louvre building as intended and it was suggested that Mitterrand
had a Pharonic complex, which supposedly explained his partiality to the
design.

Slide10

Mitterrand was adamant that the classical architecture of The Louvre not
be disturbed by the renovations, rather that it be preserved and highlighted by
the new building. With this in mind the glass used to create the pyramid has
been tinted the lightest amber colour to compliment the honey coloured stone of
the palace

Slide11

Between the
main pyramid and the smaller pyramids on either side are a series of shallow
triangular pools which also aid in reflecting light and brightening the
courtyard. The underground area was limited in size to some degree as the
foundations of the original building were too delicate to allow digging any
closer than 24feet from their base.

Slide12

There is a strong tradition of leaders building to
establish their empire in French history and Mitterrand was not unsusceptible
to this. He prolifically used architecture to leave his mark on France, under
his direction the Grands Projets program was carried out.

Slide13

While many believe this was a gross misuse of public
funds, the program was intended not only to revive Paris, but also prove that Paris
was at the centre of art, politics and economy. The designs of each of these
projects are each somewhat radical but the Louvre renovation outstrips all in
terms of public controversy.

Slide14

Initially I chose the Louvre Pyramids for the contrast
in opinion it incites, the juxtaposition of the classical and the modern
architectures suited my tendency to try to merge seemingly incompatible ideas
within my own work. After this however the actual construction of the Pyramid
relates aesthetically to my current studio work.

Slide15 The strongly geometric form appears solely linear when the light shines
through the glass panes and this strong sense of line, along with the prevalent
tessellated forms is quietly relevant to my developing practise as I’m
experimenting with abstract geometric forms.